university

[yoo-nuh-vur-si-tee] /ˌyu nəˈvɜr sɪ ti/
noun, plural universities.
1.
an institution of learning of the highest level, having a college of liberal arts and a program of graduate studies together with several professional schools, as of theology, law, medicine, and engineering, and authorized to confer both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Continental European universities usually have only graduate or professional schools.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English universite < Old French < Medieval Latin ūniversitās, Late Latin: guild, corporation, Latin: totality, equivalent to ūnivers(us) (see universe) + -itās -ity
Related forms
universitarian
[yoo-nuh-vur-si-tair-ee-uh n] /ˌyu nəˌvɜr sɪˈtɛər i ən/ (Show IPA), noun, adjective
antiuniversity, adjective, noun
counteruniversity, noun, plural counteruniversities.
interuniversity, adjective
nonuniversity, noun, plural nonuniversities, adjective
preuniversity, adjective
prouniversity, adjective
Examples from the web for university
  • The university acquiesced and opened the first co-educational, graduate level medical school.
  • His rapid success in the university raised higher hopes.
  • The idea that a university education is for everyone is a destructive myth.
  • However, critics then and now argue that any university that receives taxpayer funds should be open to scrutiny.
  • Nowadays even moderately well-off students often take a break between school and university to go round the world.
  • university tightens oversight of sensitive research.
  • But the big question concerns the effect on university finances.
  • But he sued because he claimed the university had not returned a signed copy of the severance package.
  • Publish or perish has long been the burden of every aspiring university professor.
  • Salt water can indeed burn when exposed to a certain kind of radio wave, a university chemist has confirmed.
British Dictionary definitions for university

university

/ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsɪtɪ/
noun (pl) -ties
1.
an institution of higher education having authority to award bachelors' and higher degrees, usually having research facilities
2.
the buildings, members, staff, or campus of a university
Word Origin
C14: from Old French universite, from Medieval Latin universitās group of scholars, from Late Latin: guild, society, body of men, from Latin: whole, totality, universe
Word Origin and History for university
n.

c.1300, "institution of higher learning," also "body of persons constituting a university," from Anglo-French université, Old French universitei (13c.), from Medieval Latin universitatem (nominative universitas), in Late Latin "corporation, society," from Latin, "the whole, aggregate," from universus "whole, entire" (see universe). In the academic sense, a shortening of universitas magistrorum et scholarium "community of masters and scholars;" superseded studium as the word for this.